This invention relates to a method for encoding Chinese characters and phrases, and a keyboard designed on the basis of the method. Using the present invention, Chinese characters and phrases can be quickly inputted entirely according to the form of the character, and the input is therefore suitable for the entry into any large, medium, small or mini-sized computer, as well as for Chinese information processing and communication systems.
In a Chinese information processing system, the quick input of individual characters and phrases is a major problem that calls for an urgent solution due to the extended use of computers in the countries and areas using Chinese characters. The prior art systems for encoding Chinese characters include encoding by stroke-form, encoding by whole characters at a large keyboard, and encoding by phonemes and morphemes combined. Some such systems involved encoding Chinese characters only on the basis of single stroke forms; others used their combinations or roots that often needed large numbers of roots without considering their inner links. The systems have disadvantages such as requiring large numbers of keys, special input devices, many rules to be remembered by the operator, complicated operations, too many identical codes and low input speed. In general, any user of the systems needs long special training in order to memorize their rules.